BRONCOS

Timeline 25: Remembering the biggest Colorado sports stories of 2018

Jul 23, 2020, 6:44 AM | Updated: 10:57 am

On March 6, 1995, The Fan was born. In the 25 years since, a lot has transpired on the fields, courts and ice in Colorado, giving the hosts and listeners who’ve been part of the station during that time plenty to talk about and debate.

During the course of the next few weeks, we’ll take a look back at that history, remembering the good times and the bad, the winners and the losers, the successes and the failures. It’s a series we’re calling “Timeline 25” and it continues today with a look at a one of the oddest years in Colorado sports history – 2018.

***

The Bats Go Silent

It was a great regular season, one that nearly made history for the Rockies. By the time the final game was played, Colorado was 91-71, just one win short of the best record in franchise history. And they were tied with the Dodgers atop the National League West, giving them a chance to win the first division title in franchise history.

The tiebreaker game wouldn’t go the Rockies way, as Walker Buehler outdueled German Marquez in Los Angeles. Colorado managed just four hits in the 5-2 loss.

The quiet bats was a sign of things to come.

The next day, Bud Black’s team was in Chicago, taking on the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Game. Colorado scored in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, but wouldn’t notch a run on the board again for 12 innings.

Thankfully, the Rockies pitching staff was up to the challenge. Kyle Freeland, who had a monster season with 17 wins, gave up zero runs in 6.2 innings, while five relievers held the Cubs scoreless the rest of the way. Colorado would win the game, despite having 11 consecutive innings without scoring a run, when Tony Wolters drove in Trevor Story in the bottom of the 13th.

In the National League Divisional Series against Milwaukee, the Rockies continued to struggle at the plate. They scored two runs in the ninth inning of Game 1, but lost 3-2 in 10. Colorado was then shut out in Game 2, losing 4-0, and blanked again in Game 3, falling 6-0 at Coors Field.

In 27 of the 28 innings played during the three-game sweep by the Brewers, the Rockies failed to score to score a run. They only managed 12 total hits throughout the series. It was a remarkably anemic run, especially given the lineup Colorado boasted.

Nolan Arenado hit just .182 in the series, striking out five times. Charlie Blackmon batted .083, managing just one hit in the three games. And Trevor Story hit just .167 against Milwaukee pitching. Colorado’s three All-Stars were just 5-for-35 at the plate, a collective performance that brought a great season to a premature end.

***

A Star is Born

After finishing with the second-worst record in the Western Conference the year before, not much was expected of the Avalanche during the 2017-18 season. But thanks to a strong finish, where they went 9-6-4 in March and April, Colorado was able to squeak into the playoffs.

Once there, they faced a tough draw, squaring off against the defending conference champs. But the Avs held their own, stretching the Predators to six games before finally falling. Their memorable comeback in Game 5, when they won 2-1 in Nashville to stay alive, demonstrated a lot of resolve and provided a glimpse of the future.

Colorado’s outlook was also brightened by the fact that Nathan MacKinnon emerged as a star in 2018. By the end of the season, he had earned an All-Star invite, posted 97 points on 39 goals and 58 assists, and tallied an NHL-leading 12 game-winners.

As a result of this production, the center finished second in the Hart Trophy voting, narrowly missing out on the league’s MVP award. New Jersey’s Taylor Hall racked up 1,264 points in the voting, while MacKinnon finished with 1,194.

Nonetheless, the future looked bright for Colorado. They had a solid, young team, one led by one of the best players on the planet. It was a combination that would provide many more highlights in the years to come.

***

Turning the Page

On January 1, 2018, the Broncos shook up their coaching staff. Six assistants were relieved of their duties, including special teams coordinator Brock Olivo and long-time running backs coach Eric Studesville.

Vance Joseph escaped the massacre, however. After sleeping on the decision, John Elway decided to bring his embattled head coach back for a second season.

It turned out to be a mistake. While the Broncos improved from 5-11 to 6-10, they were arguably worse in Joseph’s second season at the helm. Despite signing free-agent quarterback Case Keenum to a hefty contract prior to the year, Denver wasn’t any better on offense or overall.

That’s not to say there weren’t some high points. In fact, the 2018 season wound up serving as a reboot, to use VJ’s term, of sorts.

The Broncos added Bradley Chubb and Courtland Sutton in the first two rounds of the draft, a duo that will be part of the team’s foundation for years to come. The linebacker recorded 12.0 sacks during his rookie campaign, while the wideout was a Pro Bowl selection in year two.

Denver also inked Phillip Lindsay to a contract after the CU running back went unpicked in the draft. He’d go on to make history by becoming the first undrafted rookie to ever eclipse the 1,000-yard mark, a plateau he’d reach again in his second season.

Midway through the season, the Broncos continued the process of turning the page to a younger generation. With Sutton emerging as the team’s big-bodied wide receiver of the future, Elway traded Demaryius Thomas to the Texans for a fourth-round pick.

On December 31, after leading Denver to the franchise’s first back-to-back losing seasons since 1971 and ’72, Joseph was fired. The transition to a new era in the Mile High City continued.

***

A Silver Lining

Nobody likes to lose, especially an important game. But that doesn’t mean something valuable can’t come out of the defeat. That’s a lesson the Nuggets learned at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

Denver entered the season finale with a 46-35 record, tied with Minnesota for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Nuggets would face the Timberwolves on the road in a win-or-go-home showdown.

Michael Malone’s team rallied from eight points down at halftime to force overtime, but would ultimate succumb in the extra stanza. On the short end of a 112-106 final score, the Nuggets season came to an end.

But the defeat wasn’t a total loss. In the game, Denver learned that their two best players – Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray – were ready for primetime. The duo didn’t crumble down the stretch, as they weren’t overwhelmed by the moment.

In the end, Jokic scored 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Murray scored 20 points and passed out six assists. Both players made critical shots in the fourth quarter, helping to temporarily keep Denver’s season alive.

It wasn’t enough, as the home team ultimately came out on top. But as the Nuggets continued to build for the future, trying to find the right pieces to create a title contender, they discovered that they had two players with championship mettle.

***

One Extreme to the Other

On November 18, 2018, Mike MacIntyre was fired as the head coach of the University of Colorado. It was a shocking turn of events, coming less than two years after he’d received a contract extension as a reward for leading the Buffs to a 10-win season and a spot in the Pac-12 title game.

What could lead to such a dramatic turn of events? An utter collapse, both in the season and one game in particular.

Five games into the year, CU was riding high. They had beaten CSU, won on the road at Nebraska, handled New Hampshire, and then won back-to-back home games to begin conference play over UCLA and Arizona State. At 5-0, the Buffaloes were ranked No. 19 in the country, well on their way to another special season under MacIntyre.

And then, it all fell apart.

Colorado lost in consecutive weeks at USC and Washington, but held their own in both contests. On October 27, however, disaster struck. CU held a 31-3 lead over hapless Oregon State at Folsom Field, but managed to squander the lead. Ultimately, they lost to the Beavers by a 41-34 count in overtime.

It was a crushing defeat, as it was a game the Buffs had in hand. It’s also a win that would’ve made Colorado bowl eligible, no matter what happened down the stretch.

As it turned out, they needed the win. Following the loss to Oregon State, CU fell at Arizona, at home to Washington State and Utah in blowout fashion, and ended the season with a 33-21 loss at Cal.

MacIntyre wasn’t around to see the final game. He was let go after his team’s sixth-straight loss, missing out on No. 7.

From 5-0 to 5-7. From up 31-3 in the second half against a conference doormat to losing 41-34. From going bowling to sitting at home. It was a season that started with so much promise, yet ended in such ugly fashion.

After the season, Colorado looked in a new direction. On December 5, they hired Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker to be their head coach. That wouldn’t end well, either.

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Timeline 25: Remembering the biggest Colorado sports stories of 2018